How We Can Create a More Sustainable World | Chris Patton

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We’ve entered into a challenging new world, that’s clear to see. Not only for each of us individually but also as a collective. “Sustainability” is the word on everyone’s lips at the moment. But what if we already had the power to turn things around and enforce more sustainable practices, right now, today?

Welcome to the Darin Olien Show.

If you don’t think that superheroes exist, you haven’t met Chris Patton.

In this episode, I chat with one of my greatest friends, Chris Patton. Don’t worry about trying to Google search this guy, because the likelihood of you finding anything on him is pretty slim. You’re not going to find a website, you won’t come across any interviews, or even a hint of him talking about what he does – but I promise, his story is heroic and totally epic.

Chris comes from the Pacific Northwest in Washington State, and up until the mid-’90s, he lived a relatively normal life. He closed sales at a car lot for a time, before switching directions to work in banking. His life was comfortable and secure.

It wasn’t until he received an urgent fax from a friend living in West Africa that his world took a skidding turn. It set him on a course towards monumental life shifts involving millions of dollars, death-defying escapes, and ground-breaking scientific discoveries. 

This conversation is off the charts in terms of twists and turns. We dive into Chris’s whirlwind life, from gold and diamonds, getting shot and stabbed by militia and becoming a prisoner of war, to phantom movie stardom and rooting out the answers to some of humanity’s biggest questions on sustainable living. This saga has it all. 

For the last decade, Chris has been one of the senior science advisors for the UN on Green Technology. He’s been advising the African Union for over 15 years, as well as sitting on various international economic advisory councils.

Chris has done more than most people could do in four lifetimes. He has an enviable dedication and vigor towards saving us as a species. That’s probably why he and I mesh so well.